85 This I Vow (2/2)

”I don't believe that you can,” Xue Wei said hesitatingly, almost surprised at the discovery he made, and his words caused the smile on Chu Huiyin's lips to freeze. Her maddened eyes looked at him. ”Why not?” she asked with a raspy and hoarse voice.

”If you could kill me, you would have done it already. I know you hate me, and when we were alone in the Tie mansion, you could have killed me with no one being the wiser as to what had happened.”

”You could have killed me at any time in Tiankong City, and all the blame would have been on the Li family. On the way here, we encountered beast hordes and bandits, no doubt roused by you, but even then you did not kill me.”

”So even when you dream of killing me – you clearly want to do it more than anything else, even now you wish to kill me – why don't you just do it?”

”Could it be because of Uncle?” Xue Wei was speaking lowly too, ensuring that no one heard them. When Xue Wei mentioned his uncle, Chu Huiyin's face changed; she grimaced and looked away.

”Don't mention this ever again,” she said through gritted teeth, and stood up. ”I better go and greet the Crown Prince again. Being with you is such a bore,” she continued, and then she walked away, vanishing into the crowd of people.

Xue Wei stayed in the corner for a bit of time. ”It seems that Uncle is not as weak as a Heavenly Warrior,” Xue Wei muttered to himself. ”For this woman to fear him, he might even be a Saint?” Xue Wei was unsure. He had never before seen anyone above the initial four Warrior ranks, but he understood that it was not as simple as it seemed.

Still, this woman had feared his uncle, so was the hatred she felt for him also due to this Uncle, or was there some other reason?

Xue Wei was deep in thought for a long time before he shook his head and smiled wryly. With the information he had, it was simply impossible for him to be able to reach any conclusions. Since he could not do so, thinking about it was a waste of time.

Downing the rest of the rice wine in his cup, Xue Wei left it on the table and started mingling with the many geniuses in the hall.

All of the ones from the last year's Genius Camp looked at Xue Wei with a mixture of reverence and fear, while the ones who were to go into the following year's recruitment camp were filled with curiosity and burning with an urge to battle him.

Unfortunately for all of them, he was at the fourth layer of the Earth Warrior rank, a rank way above any of them. This meant they did not even have the qualifications to challenge, and none of the fourth layer Earth Warriors from the previous year's Recruitment Camp were silly enough to challenge him either. They knew of his might; challenging him was the same as asking to have their faces slapped in public.

The rest of the banquet happened without a hitch. Many of the younger geniuses spent most of their time on the stage that had been prepared, sparring against one another and displaying their skills.

The older geniuses all chatted and did their best to build friendships and find comrades.

They all understood that now it was time for them to enter the real world. It was time for them to engage in frenzied battle for the land, its people, and its resources.

In their coming life, they would encounter Beast hordes time and time again, so the more friends they had, the more people were likely to assist them in the war.

With more allies, they were also more likely to survive. Tie Haolong had also spent the entire night chatting with one captain after another, trying to get new allies and good friends.

Everyone knew that Xue Wei was in Tie Haolong's group, which meant everyone had been polite and friendly towards him. To be able to fight with Xue Wei would prove beneficial to them all.

It was well past midnight when Xue Wei and Tie Haolong reunited with Xiao Jie, Gu Dixing, and Song Yuyan. Together, they headed back to the Tie mansion.

Just as they were about to leave, Chu Huiyin appeared again. She was beaming at Xue Wei this time. ”We will see each other again soon,” she promised, and waved her hand delicately at Xue Wei as they withdrew from the party.

For most of the time on their way back, no one spoke, but as soon as they had left the royal grounds, Tie Haolong looked at Xue Wei and asked with a low voice, ”That woman, she is not a good one. Do you truly know her?”

”I have encountered her a few times,” Xue Wei acknowledged, ”but I dislike her as much as she dislikes me,” he continued.

”We both wish to kill each other with a hatred that I cannot really explain. She hates me to the bones, but the feeling is mutual. Just sharing a room with her today has made me feel uncomfortable.”

Xue Wei was not overreacting. His uncle was a Primordial Beast Hunter, and Xue Wei wished to become one too. He truly wanted nothing more than to kill this Ice Harpy, but he also understood that he did not have the strength to do so right now.

In fact, the entire capital did not have the power to deal with her, and thus he had stayed quiet. But in his heart, he had already decided that there would be a day when he would kill this Ice Harpy.

He would never let her kill him, but one day he would become stronger than her and kill her. This he vowed to himself while walking back to the Tie Mansion.